/ 

 / 



PREFACE. 



From the organization of the Santa Barbara Society of 

 Natural History, in 1876, to 1887, numerous papers have been 

 presented and read, all of which were interesting and suitable 

 for reading at our meetings, while, for various reasons, many 

 of them have not sufficient general interest to be included in 

 this, our first bulletin. 



While we fully realize the necessity of the publication of 

 our proceedings, and the valuable papers which have been 

 presented to the Society, not only that the material thus 

 acquired may be permanently preserved and made available 

 by other and similar organizations, but also the advantages that 

 would accrue in the accessions to our library from exchanges, 

 our financial condition and prospects will not warrant a volum- 

 inous first venture; but we hope that from this small begin- 

 ning may result more valuable and interesting publications. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., March, 1887. 



